Question: should a man always open the door for a woman? Is chivalry dead? Is chivalry good or bad for women? (Protecting women vs. limiting women)

Code of chivalry (detail) To fear God and maintain His Church To serve the liege lord in valour and faith To protect the weak and defenceless To give succour to widows and orphans To refrain from the wanton giving of offence To live by honour and for glory To despise pecuniary reward To fight for the welfare of all To obey those placed in authority To guard the honour of fellow knights To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit To keep faith At all times to speak the truth To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun To respect the honour of women Never to refuse a challenge from an equal Never to turn the back upon a foe

Code of chivalry (simple) Serve God Serve his Lord Serve his Lady How do you serve God? Be a “good” Christian How do you serve your Lord? Fight for him How do you serve your Lady? Show her your love (next slide)

tournaments A Knight’s Tale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C_XElbs1_g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5OjoZ3154I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAx6gESfwnc Medieval love song

Do we have a modern equivalent? Jason Derulo, “Marry Me” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRCsZ5a3aCM Justin Timberlake, “Mirrors” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuZE_IRwLNI Ten Things I Hate About You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6XGUhzfutc Top Gun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVNWSEX-WqU

Is chivalry dead? …should it be?

The role of women in medieval europe

Church views on women Could not become priests Women could become abbesses (leaders of a convent) but they only had authority over the other women in the convent "No matter whether the most blessed Virgin Mary stands higher, and is also more illustrious, than all the apostles together, it was still not to her, but to them, that the Lord entrusted the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.” - Pope Innocent III (1210)

Middle/upper class women Two options: Marriage and child-rearing Join a convent Only opportunity for most women to learn to read and write and play a more active role in society (religious society) Working women Midwifery (helping to birth babies) Helping husbands with the business Spinning (creating textiles)

Lower class women Equality (a.k.a. shared poverty) "Burdened with children and landlords' rent;
What they can put aside from what they make spinning they spend on housing,
Also on milk and meal to make porridge with
To sate their children who cry out for food
And they themselves also suffer much hunger,
And woe in wintertime, and waking up nights
To rise on the bedside to rock the cradle,
Also to card and comb wool, to patch and to wash,
To rub flax and reel yarn and to peel rushes
That it is pity to describe or show in rhyme
The woe of these women who live in huts;” (from Piers Plowman, a medieval poem)

Two (awesome) exceptions Eleanor of Aquitaine Joan of Arc Queen of France Went on the Second Crusade to “tend the wounded” dressed in armor and carrying lances Queen of England Mother to three kings (King Richard I and King John) Led sons in rebellion against King (imprisoned for 15 years) Cemented marriage alliances across Europe French peasant who led the army to victories during the Hundred Years’ War after seeing a vision from God Burned at the stake for heresy at the age of 19 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpswyzn-LZA

Women begin to break the mold Near the end of the Middle Ages (1300-1500), women begin to assert themselves more in society. In social life, as spokespeople for women’s issues. Example: professional writer Christine de Pizan In Church life, as abbesses and sometimes Saints. Example: Saint Teresa of Avila In political life, ruling alongside their husbands. Example: Queen Isabella (with her husband Ferdinand of Spain) Because of this, more restrictions began to be placed on women’s work and trade guilds became increasingly male-only. Also, women’s property rights began to be limited.